Decadent Supper

OUR PARTNER RESTAURANTS

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Food plays a central role in our lives, not only providing fuel, nutrients and sustenance, nor merely being central to many of our social interactions, but also feeding into our sense of identity.

(White et al., 2009)

India is the second-largest contributor to global food waste.

more than 68.8 million tons/year, equivalent to more than US$14 billion (United Nations Environment Programme 2021, food waste index)

 

The world produces 931 million tonnes of food waste every year from households, food service and retail sectors. The fact that substantial amounts of food are produced but not eaten by humans has considerable negative impacts: environmentally, socially and economically.

Estimates suggest that 8-10% of global greenhouse gas emissions are associated with food that is not consumed. The index also states that if food loss and waste were a country, it would be the third-largest source of greenhouse gas emissions on the planet.

Restaurant waste

In the city of Mumbai itself, there exist approximately 30,000 restaurants. The catering industry thrives on happy customers, which means food items must always be available for customers to order, especially at the end of the day during dinner service.

75% of restaurants have 10-20% extra preparation as a safety margin, to enable them to cater to additional crowds. High-end fine-dining restaurants make more preparations comparatively. In total, 5% keep a margin of above 30%. (Bharucha, J. 2018)

A substantial portion of the restaurants have a complete dispose of policy whereby everything prepared in the kitchen that has not been used till the end of the business day must go into the garbage disposal. However, some do distribute excess food among staff.

 

In the past, multiple restaurants have tried to distribute excess food amongst the less fortunate, but often restaurant owners fall under difficult situations, as the donees claim they felt sick after consuming the food, demanding massive monetary compensation.

Opportunity

 

The ingredients these restaurants use are often of higher quality, most of which are acquired directly from purveyors and are not easily available for individuals to purchase. Consequently, it is unfortunate to see quality food go to waste.

This contains food that is prepared fresh every day using fresh ingredients. A mixture of multiple meats, pulses and vegetables that provide numerous vitamins and nutrients, and does not include food off anyone’s plate.

India has the largest street dog population on Earth.

Mumbai alone has a street dog population of over 1,00,000

 

Stray animals of the city face scarcity of food and lack of water on a daily basis, often struggling with starvation and dehydration. Providing these animals with food reduces the chances of them looking for food in bins, makes sure they are healthier and less likely to spread diseases to other animals or humans. This could lead to lesser territorial conflicts within animals as there is lesser insecurity of food.

— insert illustration about the making process of the porridge with what goes in and what doesn’t —

— insert something about distributing food to feeders who out of their own kindness and loss feed hundreds of stray dogs every night. Therefore saving them money on buying packaged food —

 Delivered fresh every night.

Creating sustainable jobs for local delivery men.

References and Further Reading

  • (Bharucha, J. 2018), "Tackling the challenges of reducing and managing food waste in Mumbai restaurants", British Food Journal

  • Food and Agriculture Organization (2011), “Global food losses and food waste – extent, causes and prevention”, Food and Agricultural organization of the United Nations, Rome.

  • Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) (2016), Save Food: Global Initiative on Food Loss and Waste Reduction, FAO, Rome.

  • Haq, Z. (2016), “Food India wastes can feed all of Bihar for a year, shows govt. study”, Hindustan Times, September 15.

  • Nixon, R. (2015), “Food waste is becoming a serious economic and environmental issue”, The New York Times, February 5.

  • The Pioneer (2016), “Tackling food wastage in India”, June 30

  • White, P., Sharp, V., Darnton, A., Downing, P., Inman, A., Strange, K. and Garnett, T. (2009), “Food synthesis review: a report to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs”, The Social Marketing Practice et al. Defra, London.

  • Biswas, A.K., Kastner, M.J. and Tortajada, C. (2015), “Reducing food wastage: not just food for thought”, The Diplomat, October 16.

  • Evans, D., Campbell, H. and Murcott, A. (2013), “A brief pre-history of food waste and the social sciences”, The Sociological Review, Vol. 60 No. S2, pp. 5-26.

  • Ryu, K., Lee, H. and Kim, W.G. (2012), “The influence of the quality of the physical environment, food, and service on restaurant image, customer perceived value, customer satisfaction, and behavioural intentions”, International Journal of Contemporary Hospitality Management, Vol. 24 No. 2, pp. 200-223.

  • The Hindu (2016), “Government mulls fresh study on post-harvest loss of farm produce”, The Hindu, March 10.

  • Ventour, L. (2008), “The food we waste: food waste report”, V2: Material change for a better environment, Banbury.

  • Vyas, H. (2012), “Wedding food worth Rs 339 crore goes waste”, The Times of India.